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CIRCULAR

On performance of consular work

Pursuant to June 18, 2009 Law No. 33/2009/QH12 on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

Pursuant to November 21, 2017 Law No. 19/2017/QH14 Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

Pursuant to June 22, 2015 Law No. 80/2015/QH13 on Promulgation of Legal Documents;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 26/2017/ND-CP of March 14, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;

At the proposal of the Director of the Consular Department;

The Minister of Foreign Affairs promulgates the Circular on performance of consular work.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. This Circular prescribes the performance of consular work at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations, and diplomatic missions, consular posts and other agencies authorized to exercise consular functions of Vietnam in foreign countries (below collectively referred to as representative missions).

2. This Circular applies to units and individuals engaged in consular work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and representative missions.

Article 2. Consular blank prints and consular papers

1. Consular blank prints are papers, articles and documents which are produced or printed in blank forms for use in some or all processes of granting consular papers such as passports (diplomatic, official and ordinary passports), protective films for photos and other entry/exit papers prescribed by law; visas (sticker visas and loose-leaf visas); visa exemption certificates (sticker certificates and loose-leaf certificates); stamps AB; original birth certificates, original marriage certificates, and other blank forms in accordance with law.

2. Consular papers include papers granted on the basis of legal provisions relating to the functions, tasks and powers of the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions.

Article 3. Forms of lists, registers, records and reports

1. To issue together with this Circular the forms of lists, registers, records and reports serving consular work below:

a/ Form No. 01/2020/NG-LS “List of diplomatic passport and official passport grantees”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions;

b/ Form No. 02/2020/NG-LS “List of diplomatic passport and official passport holders who have their passports extended, modified or supplemented”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions;

c/ Form No. 03/2020/NG-LS “List of diplomatic notes issued to request grant of visas”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions;

d/ Form No. 04/2020/NG-LS “List of Vietnamese citizens who are granted ordinary passports in foreign countries”, to be used at representative missions;

dd/ Form No. 05/2020/NG-LS “List of Vietnamese citizens who have their ordinary passports modified or supplemented in foreign countries”, to be used at representative missions;

e/ Form No. 06/2020/ND-LS “List of laissez-passer grantees”, to be used at representative missions;

g/ Form No. 07/2020/NG-LS “List of visa grantees”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions;

h/ Form No. 08/2020/NG-LS “List of visa exemption certificate grantees”, to be used at representative missions;

i/ Form No. 09/2020/NG-LS “List of judicial entrustment cases subject to monitoring”, to be used at the Consular Department and representative missions;

k/ Form No. 10a/2020/NG-LS “Report on consular statistical data”, to be used at the Ho Chi Minh Department of External Relations;

l/ Form No. 10b/2020/NG-LS “Report on consular statistical data”, to be used at representative missions;

m/ Form No. 11/2020/NG-LS “Inventory record of damaged consular blank prints”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh Department of External Relations and representative missions;

n/ Form No. 12/2020/NG-LS “Report on use of consular blank prints”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh Department of External Relations and representative missions;

o/ Form No. 13/2020/NG-LS “List of stamp AB grantees”, to be used at representative missions.

2. The lists, registers, records and reports prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article may be created and made with data extracted from consular utility software used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh Department of External Relations and representative missions when technical conditions permit, for archive and reference purposes when necessary.

Article 4. Competence to sign or authorize the signing of consular papers in the country

1. The Director of the Consular Department is competent to sign papers and documents as follows:

a/ To sign for granting, extending, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports and official passports;

b/ To sign diplomatic notes to be sent to foreign representative missions;

c/ To sign for granting visas and extending temporary residence for foreigners under the management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;

d/ To sign for consularly legalizing, consularly certifying or certifying papers and documents to be produced at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;

dd/ To sign documents notifying or guiding consular administrative procedures to local foreign affairs agencies and representative missions;

e/ To sign landing and take-off permits for foreign special flights carrying guests of the Party or the State and escorting flights or advance flights of these special flights to conduct civil flight activities in Vietnam;

g/ To sign for issuing duplicates of civil status papers, for civil status events registered at representative missions, and other papers in accordance with law.

2. The assignment and authorization of the power to sign papers and documents by the Director of the Consular Department must comply with the following regulations:

a/ Deputy Directors of the Consular Department may sign on behalf of the Director of the Consular Department the papers stated in Clause 1 of this Article as assigned by the Director of the Consular Department.

b/ The Director of the Consular Department may authorize heads of functional divisions under the Consular Department to sign the papers and documents stated in Clause 1 of this Article but may not authorize the signing for granting, renewing, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports and the signing of documents to be sent to heads of representative missions or all representative missions.

c/ Deputy heads of functional divisions under the Consular Department may sign the papers and documents their heads are competent to sign as authorized by the Director of the Consular Department and assigned by their heads.

3. The Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations is competent to sign the papers stated at Points a and c, Clause 1 of this Article for subjects from Da Nang city southward; and sign the papers stated at Points b and d, Clause 1 of this Article.

4. The assignment and authorization of the power to sign papers and documents by the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations must comply with the following regulations:

a/ Deputy directors of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations may sign on behalf of the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations the papers and documents stated in Clause 3 of this Article as assigned by the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations.

b/ The Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations may authorize the head of the Consular Division under the Department to sign the papers and documents the former is competent to sign but may not authorize the signing for granting, renewing, modifying or supplementing diplomatic passports.

c/ Deputy heads of the Consular Division under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations may sign the papers and documents the head of the Consular Division is competent to sign as authorized by the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and assigned by the head of the Consular Division.

5. Before a competent person or authorized or assigned person exercises the power of signing papers and documents under Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Article, the Consular Department or the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations shall introduce his/her specimen signature to Vietnam-based foreign diplomatic missions and consular posts, related functional agencies in the country, and representative missions.

Article 5. Competence to sign and authorize the signing of consular papers in foreign countries

1. Heads of representative missions are competent to sign for granting, extending, modifying and supplementing assorted passports and laissez-passers; sign diplomatic notes to be sent to foreign authorities; sign for granting assorted visas; sign for granting visa exemption certificates; sign for notarizing, certifying, consularly certifying and consularly legalizing papers and documents; and sign civil status and citizenship papers, official letters and other papers relating to consular work in accordance with law.

2. The authorization of the signing of the papers stated in Clause 1 of this Article by heads of representative missions is prescribed as follows:

a/ Heads of representative missions may authorize diplomatic officers exercising consular functions or consular officers to sign the papers stated in Clause 1 of this Article; the authorization to sign for granting, renewing, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports must comply with Point c of this Clause.

b/ Authorized persons must meet the criteria prescribed in Article 17 of the Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and have a valid certificate of completion of a further training course on consular operations, except cases exempt from such certificate. Based on the practical situation and requirements of consular work in their areas, heads of representative missions shall decide on the number of persons authorized to sign consular papers which, however, must not exceed 3 (three). Representative missions with heavy consular workload may exchange opinions and reach agreement in writing with the Consular Department for the latter to report their cases to the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for considering and deciding on the number of persons authorized to sign consular papers. However, the total number of persons competent to sign consular papers at a representative mission must not exceed 5 (five).

c/ The head of a representative mission may consider authorizing a diplomatic officer exercising consular functions or a consular officer among the authorized persons mentioned at Point b of this Clause to sign for granting, extending, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports. The diplomatic officer exercising consular functions or consular officer who is authorized under this Point shall only sign for granting, extending, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports when the head of the representative mission cannot sign or is absent.

3. The process of authorization and termination of authorization must comply with the following regulations:

a/ The authorization and termination of authorization to sign consular papers shall be notified in writing by heads of representative missions (or authorized deputy heads) to the Consular Department. A notice of authorization must state the full name and position of the authorized person and whether he/she is a new staff member or an alternative staff member, scope of authorization, period of authorization, and time of termination of authorization, in case such person is alternated or assigned to perform other tasks (if any), enclosed with information on completion of a further training course on consular operations and 9 specimen signatures of the authorized person.

b/ Within 5 working days after receiving a notice, the Consular Department shall, pursuant to Clause 2 of this Article, send to the concerned representative mission a notice of acceptance or non-acceptance of the authorization, clearly stating the reasons in case of non-acceptance.

c/ Authorized persons may sign consular papers after the Consular Department issues a notice of acceptance of the authorization.

d/ The Consular Department shall notify specimen signatures of authorized persons, scope of authorization, time of commencement of authorization as well as termination of authorization to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations, the Immigration Department (the Ministry of Public Security), the Border Guard High Command (the Ministry of National Defense), the Department of Civil Status, Citizenship and Notarization (the Ministry of Justice), and other related agencies.

dd/ Representative missions shall introduce specimen signatures of persons authorized to sign consular papers and scope of authorization to related foreign authorities after obtaining the Consular Department’s notices of acceptance of authorization.

e/ In case an authorized person commits a serious violation when exercising the function of signing consular papers, the head of the concerned representative mission shall withdraw or terminate the authorization according to his/her competence, at the request of the Director of the Consular Department or under the direction of the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

g/ The Consular Department and representative missions shall manage and eternally retain notices of authorization and termination of authorization stated at Point a of this Clause.

Chapter II

PROCESS AND PRINCIPLES OF GRANTING CONSULAR PAPERS

Article 6. Process of granting consular papers

1. The grant of consular papers at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations, and representative missions shall be carried out according to a process with the steps of receiving dossiers, processing dossiers, notifying dossier processing results, and archiving dossiers, specifically as follows:

a/ The step of receiving dossiers includes the jobs of examining the validity and completeness of dossiers; issuing dossier receipts and making appointments for notifying dossier processing results; issuing charge or fee estimation notices or charge or fee receipts; guiding the supplementation of dossiers unqualified for settlement; refusing to receive dossiers unqualified for settlement; and forwarding dossiers qualified for settlement to dossier-processing sections.

b/ The step of processing dossiers include the jobs of making proposals on settlement of dossiers; approving the proposals; conducting examination and verification when necessary; inputting data, inscribing, printing, and affixing professional seals; submitting dossiers for signing and signing for granting consular papers; affixing the national emblem-carved seals; and transferring processed dossiers to sections in charge of notifying dossier-processing results.

c/ The step of notifying dossier processing results include the jobs of making the final check of processed dossiers (information on processing of dossiers, charges/fees); rerunning papers and requesting recipients to sign for certifying the receipt of papers or return dossier receipts; and transferring dossiers to dossier-archiving sections.

d/ The step of archiving dossiers include the jobs of arranging, making entries in registers or printing out lists from consular software, and archiving settled dossiers by type of consular affair, procedure and time of settlement.

dd/ Charges/fees may be collected at the step of receiving dossiers or handing over granted consular papers to individuals and organizations, and information on charge/fee collection shall be notified and posted up at dossier-receiving sections and sections in charge of notifying dossier-processing results or under Article 9 of this Circular.

2. The Director of the Consular Department, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and heads of representative missions shall organize the implementation of the process for granting consular papers prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article in conformity with the practical situation of their agencies and Article 7 of this Circular.

Article 7. Principles of granting consular papers

1. Each staff member shall take charge of one or more than one job of the process of granting consular papers. At places where the consular workload is light or there is insufficient staff for each staff member to take charge of a single job, one person may take charge of several jobs in different steps of the process of granting consular papers provided that one person will not be assigned to settle all jobs as a closed process; invoice makers must not concurrently act as cashiers; those competent to sign consular papers will not be assigned to keep and affix the national emblem-carved seals on these papers; and those competent to sign or those assigned to keep and affix the national emblem-carved seals will not be concurrently tasked to manage consular blank prints.

2. The jobs of making proposals on settlement of dossiers; approving the proposals; conducting examination and verification; submitting dossiers for signing and signing for granting consular papers in the step of processing dossiers prescribed at Point b, Clause 1, Article 6 of this Circular shall be performed by civil servants of the Consular Department or the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations or diplomatic officers or consular officers of representative missions.

Article 8. Principles of receipt of consular dossiers

1. Consular dossiers shall be received at working offices, unless it is permitted by law to receive dossiers outside working offices.

2. For consular procedures for which requesters may submit dossiers via authorized persons or authorized agencies or by post, the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions shall receive dossiers according to regulations of these procedures.

3. The Director of the Consular Department, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and heads of representative missions shall, based on the practical situation at their units and areas, prescribe in writing the receipt and settlement of consular dossiers via authorized subjects or by post on the basis of current regulations and guidance of the Consular Department.

Article 9. Publicization of regulations on procedures

The Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions shall publicize at their head offices and on their portals current regulations on procedures for grant of consular papers, charges and fees, and guest reception timetables.

Chapter III

MANAGEMENT OF CONSULAR BLANK PRINTS, ARCHIVE OF DOSSIERS AND CONSULAR REPORTING REGIME

Article 10. Management and use of consular blank prints

1. Consular blank prints shall be managed and protected like secret documents. The Director of the Consular Department, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and heads of representative missions shall organize the archive and use of consular blank prints in compliance with consular paper management and allocation, security and safety regulations and processes.

2. Consular blank prints which are unqualified for issuance, or damaged due to technical errors upon issuance (below collectively referred to as damaged consular blank prints) or use shall be affixed with the stamp “Destroyed” and handled according to Article 13 of this Circular.

3. For sticker consular blank prints (sticker visas, sticker visa exemption certificates, and sticker stamps AB) which are damaged due to technical errors of representative missions but have been stuck to passports and cannot be removed, the issuing representative missions shall affix the stamp “Destroyed” on the damaged consular blank prints and issue substitute prints free of charge. Copies of damaged consular blank prints and their substitutes, together with the identity pages of passports of the persons concerned, shall be sent to the Consular Department according to Clause 2, Article 13 of this Circular.

Article 11. Estimation of quantities and allocation of consular blank prints in the country

1. Consular blank prints allocated to domestic agencies include diplomatic passports, official passports, visas (sticker visas and loose-leaf visas), protective films for photos and other entry/exit papers in accordance with law.

2. Domestic agencies that use consular blank prints include the Consular Department and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations.

3. In November 11 every year, the Consular Department and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations shall, based on the practical demand and quantities of consular blank prints used in previous years, estimate quantities of consular blank prints for use in the subsequent year. The Consular Department shall sum up estimated quantities and work out plans on printing and purchasing consular blank prints, ensuring timely allocation to meet work requirements.

4. When having a need for consular blank prints, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations shall send a request to the Consular Department, clearly stating the quantities of consular blank prints requested for allocation, and authorize staff members of the Department or of another agency to carry out procedures for receiving consular blank prints at the Consular Department. The authorized staff members shall carry out procedures at the Consular Department and the Administrative and Financial Agency to receive consular blank prints.

Article 12. Estimation of quantities and allocation of consular blank prints to representative missions

1. Consular blank prints allocated to representative missions include those of the types stated in Clause 1, Article 2 of this Circular.

2. In November 11 every year, representative missions shall, based on the practical demand and quantities of consular blank prints used in previous years, estimate the quantities of consular blank prints for use in the subsequent year and notify thereof in writing to the Consular Department. The Consular Department shall sum up estimated quantities of representative missions and work out plans on printing and purchasing consular blank prints, ensuring timely allocation to representative missions.

3. When having a need for consular blank prints, representative missions shall send a request to the Consular Department, clearly stating the quantity of each type of consular blank prints requested for allocation, and authorize staff members being diplomatic passport holders to carry out procedures for receiving consular blank prints at the Consular Department and forward them to representative missions. Representative missions shall be held responsible for the authorization. If a representative mission wishes to authorize a staff member being an official passport holder to carry out procedures for receiving consular blank prints and then forward them to the representative mission, it shall exchange opinions in writing with the Consular Department for the latter to report the case to the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for consideration and decision.

Article 13. Handling of damaged consular blank prints

1. The handling of consular blank prints unqualified for allocation or damaged due to technical errors upon allocation or use at the Consular Department and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations is prescribed as follows:

a/ Each of the agencies stated in Article 1 of this Circular shall form an inventory board comprising of a representative of the leadership of the agency, representatives of the relevant functional divisions and staff members in charge of managing consular blank prints. The inventory board shall check the whole volume of damaged consular blank prints and make an inventory record of damaged consular blank prints according to Form No. 11/2020/NG-LS.

b/ The Consular Department shall sum up the volume of damaged consular blank prints at the Department; receive and check the volume of damaged consular blank prints forwarded from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and compare with the inventory record of damaged consular blank prints and the report on use of consular blank prints in the same period, make a record of certification and destroy the volume of damaged consular blank prints according to regulations.

2. The handling of consular blank prints unqualified for allocation or damaged due to technical errors upon allocation or use at representative missions is prescribed as follows:

a/ Each representative mission shall form an inventory board comprising of the head or a deputy head of the representative mission, head of the consular division or the staff member in charge of consular work and staff member in charge of managing consular blank prints. The inventory board shall check the whole volume of damaged consular blank prints and make an inventory record of damaged consular blank prints according to Form No. 11/2020/NG-LS, seal off the volume of damaged consular blank prints and send them, enclosed with the inventory record, to the Consular Department.

b/ The Consular Department shall receive and check the volume of damaged consular blank prints sent from representative missions and compare with inventory records of damaged consular blank prints and reports on use of consular blank prints in the same period, make a record of certification and destroy the volume of damaged consular blank prints according to regulations.

3. The handling of damaged consular blank prints shall be carried out once every 6 (six) months or quarterly; only consular blank prints which become damaged in the period of reporting on use of consular blank prints shall be handled.

Article 14. Management and archive of consular dossiers

1. The Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions shall make and archive the following 2 (two) types of dossiers:

a/ Principle dossiers, including all relevant legal documents and treaties, dossiers and documents relating to the establishment of consular posts of Vietnam and foreign countries (for Vietnam-based foreign consular posts) and official letters, telegraphs, and documents guiding, directing and administering consular work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consular Department. Staff members directly engaged in consular work may access these documents to study and apply regulations therein in performance of consular work.

b/ Dossiers for grant of consular papers, which shall be retained by type of consular affairs, procedures and time of settlement.

To-be-archived dossiers include dossiers submitted by persons concerned or copies received by consular officers after comparing them against their originals, papers serving as grounds for grant of consular papers according to the regulations for each procedure, and other papers relating to the settlement of dossiers;

Passport renewal dossiers must clearly state the serial numbers of old passports or shall be enclosed with copies of old passports.

2. Time of archive of each type of dossiers:

a/ Dossiers for grant, extension, modification and supplementation of diplomatic passports or official passports and dossiers of request for issuance of diplomatic notes to apply for grant of visas shall be numbered and archived for 8 years.

b/ Dossiers for grant, modification and supplementation of ordinary passports shall be archived for 10 years.

c/ Dossiers of application for laissez-passers shall be archived for 3 years.

d/ Dossiers of application for stamps AB shall be retained for 2 years.

dd/ Dossiers of application for visas for foreigners shall be archived for 1 year, and telegraphs notifying the grant of visas shall be archived for 5 years.

e/ Dossiers of application for visa exemption certificates and telegraphs notifying the grant of visa exemption certificates shall be archived for 5 years.

g/ To archive eternally decisions permitting restoration of Vietnamese citizenship, decisions permitting renunciation of Vietnamese citizenship and lists of persons permitted to renounce Vietnamese citizenship. For persons not permitted to restore or renounce Vietnamese citizenship, representative missions shall archive eternally notices of the Ministry of Justice or the Consular Department, notices sent by representative missions to dossier submitters, and return accompanying papers to the persons concerned. For persons not yet permitted to restore Vietnamese citizenship or renounce Vietnamese citizenship, representative missions shall retain their dossiers until such persons are permitted to restore or renounce Vietnamese citizenship.

h/ Dossiers of settlement of citizenship and civil status procedures shall be archived eternally. In case the above dossiers have been digitalized for archive in electronic form, they may be destroyed after 5 years since the date of digitalization. The destruction of dossiers after digitalization for archive in electronic form must comply with Article 15 of this Circular. E-data of dossiers of settlement of citizenship and civil status procedures shall be archived eternally under Clause 3 of this Article.

i/ Civil status registers shall be archived eternally.

k/ Dossiers of consular certification or consular legalization of papers and documents: Consular certification and consular legalization registers, computer-based management software, dossiers on cases involving counterfeit papers or papers issued in contravention of regulations, and papers related to verification shall be archived for 10 years; other consular certification or consular legalization dossiers shall be archived for 3 years.

l/ Notarization dossiers shall be archived for at least 20 years.

m/ Dossiers for authentication of signatures and translators’ signatures shall be archived for 2 years; authentication registers shall be archived eternally.

3. The Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions shall assign their staff members to archive and preserve consular dossiers and registers by type of consular affairs; and manage, copy, and archive eternally e-data from consular paper issuance software.

Article 15. Destruction of consular dossiers

When the prescribed archive period expires, the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions shall establish a document destruction board, re-inventory to-be-destroyed documents, and make a record of destruction of documents, clearly stating the volume and type of destroyed dossiers. The destruction of dossiers must comply with the law on archives.

Article 16. Registers

Registers used for each type of consular affairs shall be made according to set forms and archived eternally, except consular certification and consular legalization registers which shall be archived in accordance with the law on consular certification and consular legalization.

Article 17. Periodical reporting regime

1. The consular statistical reporting work is prescribed as follows:

a/ Once every 6 months, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations shall send a report on consular statistical data (Form No. 10a/2020/NG-LS) and a report on use of consular blank prints (Form No. 12/2020/NG-LS) to the Consular Department for the latter to synthesize the situation of consular work and make statistics of granted consular papers and consular work performed by the Department. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations shall make a charge collection report and a fee collection report (according to the forms issued by the Ministry of Finance) and send them to the Administrative and Financial Agency and the Consular Department for monitoring the use of consular blank prints.

b/ Once every month, representative missions shall make a charge collection report and a fee collection report according to the forms issued by the Ministry of Finance and send them to the Consular Department and the Administrative and Financial Agency for synthesizing the situation of consular work in foreign countries and making statistics of the quantity of granted consular papers and consular fees.

c/ Once every 6 months, representative missions shall send a report on consular statistical data (made according to Form No. 10b/2020/NG-LS) to the Consular Department for the latter to synthesize the situation of consular work at representative missions and make statistics of the quantity of granted consular papers, performed consular affairs and problems and recommendations (if any).

d/ Once every quarter and at the year-end, representative missions shall send to the Consular Department a report on the use of consular blank prints (made according to Form No. 12/2020/NG-LS).

2. The timeline for taking data to make reports on consular statistical data and reports on use of consular blank prints must coincide with the timeline for taking statistical data (by day) to make charge collection reports and fee collection reports guided by the Ministry of Finance, specifically: from the 26th of the last month of the preceding quarter through the 25th of the last month of the reporting quarter (for quarterly reports); from December 21 of the preceding year through June 25 of the reporting year (for biannual reports); or from December 21 of the preceding year through December 20 of the reporting year (for annual reports).

3. The reports prescribed at Points a, c and d, Clause 1 of this Article shall be sent to the Consular Department before the 10th of the first month of the following quarter (for quarterly report); July 10 (for biannual reports), or January 10 of the following year (for annual reports). In case the above-said deadline for submitting statistical reports falls into a weekend or public holiday prescribed by law, the deadline will be the first working day following the weekend or public holiday.

4. Particularly for administrative procedures accompanied with regulations on the reporting time limit, reporting time and report forms, in addition to making reports according to this Circular, representative missions shall also make reports as required for these procedures.

Chapter IV

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 18. Organization of implementation

1. The Director of the Consular Department, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations, heads of representative missions and heads of units under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall organize the implementation of this Circular.

2. If meeting with any difficulties in the course of implementation of this Circular, representative missions and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations shall promptly report them to the Consular Department for guidance and settlement according to the latter’s competence or reporting to the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for consideration and settlement.

Article 19. Effect

This Circular takes effect on April 1, 2020, and replaces the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ Decision No. 05/2002/QD-NG of July 30, 2002, promulgating the Regulation on performance of consular work, and Decision No. 07/2003/QD-BNG of March 19, 2003, amending and supplementing a number of points of the Regulation on performance of consular work promulgated together with Decision No. 05/2002/QD-BNG of July 30, 2002.-